If this was easy it wouldn't be so hard

A Taoyaun corner.

She was such a sweetheart. And a lot better looking than me. But I had been out walking all afternoon in the 200% humidity. Yeah, that's why.

I have never liked these dang things. One should not encounter a confusing #2. Seriously, they shouldn't.

Man, the weeks just kind of fly on by, don't they. At least I take some comfort in the knowledge that when we started doing this we were all posting every day. Now it is weekly, bi-weekly, or "whenever". At least a lot of times I've got pictures.

Went and spent my week in Taiwan. I am not usually bored in Asia, but I was. Very. I even went in to the big city three times. I have been to Quingdao, China and to Hong Kong (China) and have had a ball. Repeatedly. Hong Kong is, in fact, one of my favorite destinations. So I figured Taiwan (China) would be much the same. And had I been a 20 year old woman in search of shoes, miniskirts, make-up, or hot tea, I'd have been in heaven. Alas, I was not. The most fun I had there was the adventure surrounding using a combination rail/light rail to get from downtown Taipei back to my hotel in Taoyaun, about 20-25 miles away. It was fun because I got totally confused in the multi-story Taipei Main Station. And I thought Yokohama Station in Japan was an overachiever....

So I'm in a town where I'm having trouble even finding a place to stop in and have a beer, and this is as good a place as any to point out that the weather was very much like September in Florida, which is to say ninety degrees plus and humid, when out of my taxi window I see what appears to be... hooker in a box. Right there on the street. I was like, Hmmmmm?

So after seeing the one girl in a miniskirt, or less, on a stool, in a tiny elevated glass enclosure, then I started seeing them all over. It really made me wonder, based on the fact this was not turning out to be a very fun city, why this would be allowed. So I asked Joseph, a Chinese guy I had been hitting the city with. Turns out that they were Betel Nut Girls. If you look at the link you will find an explanation of Betel Nut Girls and a few photos. Then you will understand my initial confusion.

The economy keeps taking out my peeps. Just had another friend lose his job as the big electrical contractor he works, errrr...worked for just filed for bankruptcy. And we have 20 or so new hires coming through my classes and are spending week after next interviewing for a new trainer in my office. I'd love to be throwing some of this work at my friends, but you gotta have the quals, right?

Going to be busy at work for a few weeks because of the new hires. Then I am headed up to Peabody, MA for a week long school at Analogic, or as I call them, Anal Logic, because it seems like their collective head is, well, you know. I used some of my many, many airline miles and got the wife a first class ticket to go up there with me. I think she will be bored during the day, stuck on the outskirts of Woburn, MA without a car. But I am hoping to have dinner with The Coal Miner's Daughter and her boy Nick (Sorry, but I was thinking of "Mr. Peabody and his boy Sherman") one night, and with my former boss on another. Then I will take her into Boston proper a couple of times and show her around. Will try to talk her into riding the T with me because when you get into some of these places, parking is a bee-yatch!

The day after tomorrow is the third day of the rest of your life, out

Ramblin' Ed

--------------- More Old Stuff (from 1978 this time)--------------

Star Truck (Blindly going where no man has gone before)

Welcome to my spaceship
I'm the Captain (I implied)
Now fasten up your safety belts
the jets have been applied
feel the gravity start shrinking
pretty soon it will be gone
on the S.S. Ellis Dee
(Where we call home)

All computers have been programmed
and their programmers as well
It seems the last immortal robot
guards a gateway into hell
And if we can put his lights out
we can close that gaping hole
and mankind can live forever
if not more

So just close your eyes my passengers
and you will understand
what this journey is about
for I'm a telepathic man
with less effort
than it takes a star to sigh
the S.S. Ellis Dee
cuts through the sky

Captain, does the sky seem strange?
Asked the woman from Biscayne
No, dear, I replied
I think it's just the window pane
makes the sun seem like it's shifting
to the right
exposing then
this disconcerting light

But now silence must be stringently maintained
or we may crash
I must guide us through this vortex field
one that's full of cosmic trash
and a Marxist spy eye
way up in the sky
I know it's there
But I can't tell you why

Just cling on to this enterprise
think of me as Kirk
I have the conn. I'm in command
in my pajama shirt
Mr Spock, my body guard,
survives on Metimucil
and will guide us through this wonderland
with dialated pupils

We'll be docking in the morning
to a doughnut spinning wild
to an orbiting space station
thruster rockets belching fire
we'll refuel and stay til evening
at which time we must take leave
there's a bag, should you have problems,
on the back of every seat

Then we're off into the galaxy
where unknown dangers dwell
to find the last immortal robot
and his gateway into hell
yes, your ticket price will cover
all of this and so much more
as we grapple with this anti-Christ
and slam shut that massive door

If we survive the battle
then a hero welcome's ours
in the streets of New York City
door to door and house to house
for mankind we meet this challenge
not for you, and not for me
but it will all be worth it
when they meet on bended knee
when they turn their eyes towards heaven
And shout out, "Long live Ellis Dee!"

Black Coffee Day

Well I lost my girl to a rainbow messiah
charismatic for sure, but a compulsive liar
yeah, that silver tounged deacon has stole her away
there won't be no sunshine today

I woke up this morning to a sky rolling blue
a thunderclap welcome, and a free shower too
tried to reach a conclusion but my arms were too short
just another bleeding heart

A choir of angels led a ballad that rambled
on that new FM show brought by Proctor & Gamble
released a new single EP for a demo
sped off in a long, black limo

Yeah, I lost my girl to a rainbow messiah
holy roller fanatic with a prayer gun for hire
a bible for strength, a knife quick and subtle
a deaf ear for any rebuttal

I woke up this morning to a black coffee day
to find that my girl had been stolen away
by that rainbow messiah. Oh yes, how it rained
all over my little parade

I left all my love when I left Tallahassee
took a slow train to somewhere all alone in the last seat
since I don't thump the good book, I'll just cut my losses
and leave it bleed slowly up there on a cross

Let it die slowly, nailed up on that cross.